Hello All!
Today marks the first day of a new chapter of my life. A chapter where I invite cycling back as a regular part of my life. In the words of cyclist Jim Burlant, "Cycling is like Church. Many attend but few understand." And he is absolutely right. Cycling is more than a means for transportation or a way to relax outside on a sunny weekend. It's the most beautiful, refreshing, exciting, sometimes exhausting and absolutely simple way of travel. Bikes have somehow mastered the perfect speed to travel at. The speed at which you can get from A to B but still manage to catch snip-its of conversation from people as you pass by. You can take in the beauty of the world around you.
Cycling is not only beautiful because of the aesthetics of the sport though. In a similar way to rowing, cycling gives a feeling of exhilaration that can only be achieved by sports that rely on pure power. It can be argued that it takes some degree of skill and knowledge of gears and the way bike work and the roads you are riding on ans what ever other factors you want to come up with. The bare-bones of the matter however is half way up the climb when you feel your legs start to scream and you consider stepping off and walking but instead, you feel your legs press up and suddenly you're standing and climbing faster and the pain becomes white noise and the only thing you hear is the quickening pace of your breath in time with the spinning of the pedals. This is the real beauty of the sport. The moment of truth when we find out what we are really made of and how hard we are willing to push ourselves to get to the top. And then, when you feel like you can't push another second, you look up and the top is right there in front of you. It's that moment when you stumble off your bike after the climb and sit down and begin to hear the birds around you and the fact of what you just accomplished starts to sink in. Very few things are quite as satisfying as breaking a physical barrier you did not know you could break.
So as you probably guessed, I'm pretty much a cycling fanatic. I mean this in the very loosest of terms. I absolutely love biking with every facet of my being. The only problem is, I have not devoted much time to it. It's easy to forget how much you love something when you're not doing it. So... I've decided to start cycling again, regularly and document my adventures in this blog so I never forget how much I love it. And hopefully, others will get to experience some of this joy along with me.
This week I have started officially training for my very first Century ride! My first ride of the week, yesterday, I biked the 16.2mi to Shelter Cove Marina (the marina the University of Cincinnati Rowing team practices out of) and back to my house by UC. It's a great ride for the first day of training because its familiar, fairly straight, directions are not challenging, and includes a major climb. Speaking of Collins...
Cycling Achievement #1: First time riding all the way up Collins! (5/21/2012)
The ride to the marina was great and reminded me just how much I love to bike, even when its painful and I'm feeling like I might start rolling backwards...
For all you cyclists out there, spread the word about the best way to travel! Because there really is nothing better than a bike =)
For all you potential cyclists: You never know how great it is until you try it with someone who's already fallen in love. Find a cyclist you know and go for a ride with them. Ask questions. Get in their head. They will tell you just how great it is.
A rediculously long first post but the future ones will be shorter, I assure you =P
~ "Nothing compares to the simple pleasures of riding a bike" John F. Kennedy
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